<table border=2><tr><td>The ancestry of '''Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr.''', (b. 1942), US Senator, US Democratic candidate in the 2008 Presidential election, and Vice-Presidential candidate.</td><td>[http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=NDZnOfq6fRs&offerid=145147.10000009&type=3&subid=0 Find your family history in the World's Largest Newspaper Archive! Find News, Births and Deaths]</td></tr></table>

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Copyright 2007-2008, Will Johnson, [mailto:wjhonson@aol.com wjhonson@aol.com], Professional Genealogist, All Rights Reserved. This page is locked, if you'd like to add or correct anything, please email me. I am available for hire to assist you to trace your family or create a biography of you or your relative. I charge $25 per hour.

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</blockquote>

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Special thanks to site reader Chris Smithson ctsmithson@verizon.net, professional genealogist (specializing in Maryland), for some of the below (as noted).

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<table><tr><td>http://www.goalsforamericans.org/images/JoeBidenLrg.jpg</td><td>This article should be cited as:"Joseph Biden", by Will Johnson, professional genealogist [mailto:wjhonson@aol.com wjhonson@aol.com], at CountyHistorian.com URL: http://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/Joseph_Biden, copyright 2007-8, all rights reserved.

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This page is locked, if you'd like to add or correct anything, please email me. I am available for hire to assist you to trace your family or create a biography of you or your relative. I charge $25 per hour.

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Special thanks to site reader Chris Smithson ctsmithson@verizon.net, professional genealogist (specializing in Maryland), for some of the below (as noted). </td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>http://www.goalsforamericans.org/images/JoeBidenLrg.jpg</td><td>The family moved to Delaware when Joe was ten years old and he was raised in New Castle County, [[Delaware]] where his father was a car salesman. Joe Jr graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse University College of Law. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 when he was 29.

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<table><tr><td>http://www.goalsforamericans.org/images/JoeBidenLrg.jpg</td><td>The family moved to Claymont, Delaware when Joe was ten years old and he continued growing-up in New Castle County, [[Delaware]] where his father was a car salesman. Joe Jr graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse University College of Law. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 when he was 29.

While he was in law school he married Neilia Hunter, they had three children: Joseph R "Beau" Biden III, Robert Hunter Biden, and Amy Biden. His wife and infant daughter died in a car accident sometime between 1972 and 1974. In 1977 he married Jill Tracy Jacobs. They had one daughter Ashley. Currently Joseph Biden is a U.S. Senator from Delaware, he has been in government for 33 years.

While he was in law school he married Neilia Hunter, they had three children: Joseph R "Beau" Biden III, Robert Hunter Biden, and Amy Biden. His wife and infant daughter died in a car accident sometime between 1972 and 1974. In 1977 he married Jill Tracy Jacobs. They had one daughter Ashley. Currently Joseph Biden is a U.S. Senator from Delaware, he has been in government for 33 years.

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*[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0756741785/102-9279843-7223326?ie=UTF8&tag=countyh-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0756741785 ''Reducing the Threat of Chemical And Biological Weapons: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate''] (Paperback)

*[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0756741785/102-9279843-7223326?ie=UTF8&tag=countyh-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0756741785 ''Reducing the Threat of Chemical And Biological Weapons: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate''] (Paperback)

===Primary sources for 1===

===Primary sources for 1===

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*[http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080829/pl_politico/12955 "Sen. Joe Biden (D-Scranton)"], by Alexander Burns, Kenneth P. Vogel 28 Aug 2008 28, on Politico, that he moved to "Clayton" when ten years old.

She married [[#Joseph Robinette Biden|Joseph Robinette Biden]] in 1941, while he was employed as a sales representative for Amoco Oil Company. They had a daughter and three sons including Joe Biden Jr (in 1942), while they were living in Scanton, Pennsylvania.

She married [[#Joseph Robinette Biden|Joseph Robinette Biden]] in 1941, while he was employed as a sales representative for Amoco Oil Company. They had a daughter and three sons including Joe Biden Jr (in 1942), while they were living in Scanton, Pennsylvania.

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==Ambrose Joseph Finnegan==

==Ambrose Joseph Finnegan==

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Ambrose Joseph Finnegan was born on 11 Jul 1884 in Olyphant, Lackawanna County, [[Pennsylvania]]. He married in 1908/9 probably in Pennsylvania to [[#Geraldine C Blewitt|Geraldine C Blewitt]]. He was yet living in 1942 when he filed his WWII Draft Registration Card from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

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Ambrose Joseph Finnegan was born on 11 Jul 1884 in Olyphant, Lackawanna County, [[Pennsylvania]]. His Irish-emigrant parents had possibly both died by the time of the 1900 census, and possibly in Scranton, when he is enumerated in Scranton, Pennsylvania as "nephew" in the household of Peter F Roche and his wife Bridget. It's possible, but not yet evidenced, that he was the son of [[#James Finnegan|James Finnegan]] and Catherine Finnegan. [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~palackaw/wills/willindexe-g.html This site] which has a will index for Lackawanna County, has the death of Catherine Finnegan on 4 Apr 1886, and James on 1 Mar 1895. That would explain why Ambrose in 1900 is living with his uncle. But please '''note''', that no matter who has told you that James and Catherine are his parents '''must show evidence'''.

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Ambrose Joseph Finnegan married in 1908/9 probably in Pennsylvania to [[#Geraldine C Blewitt|Geraldine C Blewitt]]. Ambrose either then or slightly before had trained to be a civil engineer, an occupation he held in 1910 as did his father-in-law Edward F Blewitt. You will find mentions here and there on the internet that Ambrose worked for Scranton Gas & Water Company. Most articles and sites say nothing more. So much for those sites. Now for the rest of the story.

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Being a civil engineer was not to keep Ambrose, by 1918 he had become an advertising solicitor for the Scrantonian Publishing Company. He would apparently work for the Scrantonian the rest of his life, working his way up by 1930 to be Advertising Manager. You would '''think''' that these great newspaper reporters of today '''would have noticed that'''. But no.

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Ambrose Joseph Finnegan was yet living in 1942 when he filed his WWII Draft Registration Card from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and again he lists his employer as "M L Goodman" of the "Scrantonian-Tribune". In Joseph Biden's autobiographical book (see sources below), his grandfather Finnegan was living when Joe was "12 or 13" (so this would be 1954/6).

*[http://www.scrantontimes.com/articles/2008/08/23/news/doc48af9add4ec8e036486859.txt "Biden's NEPA roots run deep"], by Borys Krawczeniuk, 23 Aug 2008 :<blockquote>The city of his youth is part of the first paragraph in his book, "Promises to Keep," released last summer by Random House. "The first principle of politics, the foundational principle, I learned in the 1950s in my grandpop’s kitchen when I was about 12 or 13 years old," Mr. Biden wrote the book’s opening line. "My parents had recently moved us to Delaware, but most Friday nights mom and dad would load me, my sister Val, my brother Jimmy and the baby, Frankie, into our car and drive up to Scranton, Pa., to spend the weekend at grandpop Finnegan’s house."</blockquote>

===Secondary sources for 6===

===Secondary sources for 6===

*[http://www.wargs.com/political/biden.html "The Ancestors of Joe Biden", Ancestry research by William Addams Reitwiesner, "most of this work was contributed by Robert Battle"]

*[http://www.wargs.com/political/biden.html "The Ancestors of Joe Biden", Ancestry research by William Addams Reitwiesner, "most of this work was contributed by Robert Battle"]

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*A site reader tells me that : "The only resource I can think of for more about Ambrose's advert job would be Joseph X. Flannery who was at the newspaper so long that he could be/is its historian. He very likely knew the Finnegan family. ( His book: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=185391). If he's deceased or has retired, call the paper. Contact list at http://www.scrantontimes.com/customer_service/. Scrantonians are just like Joe B. -- heart of gold with a strong world view and talk too much. (and absolutely nothing like The Office!)."

==Geraldine C Blewitt==

==Geraldine C Blewitt==

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Geraldine C Blewitt was born 1886/8 in [[Pennsylvania]], the daughter of Edward Blewitt of [[Louisiana]]. She married [[#Ambrose Joseph Finnegan|Ambrose Joseph Finnegan]]. They lived in Scanton, Pennsylvania. She died sometime after the 1930 census.

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Geraldine C Blewitt was born 1886/8 in [[Pennsylvania]], the daughter of [[#Edward Francis Blewitt|Edward Francis Blewitt]] of [[Louisiana]]. She married [[#Ambrose Joseph Finnegan|Ambrose Joseph Finnegan]]. They lived in Scanton, Pennsylvania. She died sometime after the 1930 census.

*Site reader Loretta-Marie Dimond [mailto:genehisthome1@comcast.net genehisthome1@comcast.net], professional historian and genealogist specializing in Pacific Northwest and Civil War history, reports to me on 12 Sep 2008, that : George H Robinett has a Civil War pension file. "He served as a private in Company B, 17th West Virginia Infantry, and was in receipt of invalid pension from the early 1890s. File number 694,476. His widow Mary, who survived him (but was not issued an XC number, supporting the theory she was deceased before 1934), was in receipt of a widow's pension from 1914, consistent with the date of death from George's, Johns Hopkins Baltimore death certificate. Should this prove to be the identical George H Robinett who was the father of Mary Elizabeth Robinette Biden (and I believe it will, or I would not have written to you!), the dependency documents in the file will give you proof in the veteran's own handwriting, as well as proof of his two marriages, and probably proof of his parentage."

===Secondary sources for 10===

===Secondary sources for 10===

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==Unknown wife of Finnegan==

==Unknown wife of Finnegan==

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==Edward Blewitt==

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==Edward Francis Blewitt==

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Edward F Blewitt was born 1859/61 in Louisiana.

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Edward Francis Blewitt was born 2 Jan 1859 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Patrick Blewitt and Catharine Scanlon.

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Edward Francis Blewitt married firstly in Scranton in 1879 to Mary Ellen Stanton (d. 1887) and secondly in 1891 to Mary Ann Blackwell. He was a civil engineer; Scranton city engineer, 1883-93; member of Pennsylvania state senate, 1907-10.

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Also descending from this man is "retired film editor David E Blewitt".

*[http://www.pa-roots.org/data/read.php?456,323778 "Edward Francis Blewitt"], biography on PA-Roots<blockquote>Edward Francis Blewitt, Lackawanna County, was born in New Orleans, La., January 2, 1859; educated at Lafayette College, Easton, PA, and was graduated therefrom as a civil engineer in the class of 1879, of which class he is now president; was city engineer of Scranton, PA, 1883 to 1893, and served as school controller for a term ending 1884; is a contracting and consulting engineer and was chief engineer from 1897 to 1902 of the Guadalajara City, State of Jalisco, Mexico, sewer and water works, costing $3,000,000, the most complete in that country; elected to the Senate in November, 1906. Source: Smull's Legislative Hand Book and Manual of the State of Pennsylvania, 1910; Biographical Sketches.</blockquote>

Her parents might have been Thomas H Randle and his wife Mary Ann Shoemaker who married 9 Jun 1830 in Baltimore County, Maryland.

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Lydia Ann Randle was born 1833/4 in Maryland. Her parents might have been Thomas H Randle and his wife Mary Ann Shoemaker who married 9 Jun 1830 in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Chris Smithson informs me that "Thomas H. Randle died Jun 3, 1889 in Arbutus Station, Sulphur Spring Road, Baltimore County [Obituary from Baltimore Sun dated Jun 5, 1889]; Mary A. Randle died Aug 15, 1902 in Baltimore County, MD - [MD Death Certificate Index at www.mdvitalrec.net]", he further informs me that Mary was age 89 at her death per her death certificate, and that her father was George Shoemaker, mother Rachel Herbert.

Chris Smithson informs me that "Thomas H. Randle died Jun 3, 1889 in Arbutus Station, Sulphur Spring Road, Baltimore County [Obituary from Baltimore Sun dated Jun 5, 1889]; Mary A. Randle died Aug 15, 1902 in Baltimore County, MD - [MD Death Certificate Index at www.mdvitalrec.net]", he further informs me that Mary was age 89 at her death per her death certificate, and that her father was George Shoemaker, mother Rachel Herbert.

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*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=flhg-marriagesbaltimoresunii&so=2&pcat=34&MS_AdvCB=1&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=angs-c&gsfn=Joseph&gsfn_x=1&gsln=Biden&gsln_x=1&81004010__date_x=1&msbpn_x=1&msbpn__ftp_x=1&81004030__date_x=1&msdpn_x=1&msdpn__ftp_x=1&msrpn_x=1&msrpn__ftp_x=1&_8000C000_x=1&_80008000_x=1&_80018000_x=1&_80014000_x=1&_80010000_x=1&gskw_x=1&_83004002_x=1 ''Index to Marriages and Deaths in the Baltimore Sun 1851-1860'']

*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=flhg-marriagesbaltimoresunii&so=2&pcat=34&MS_AdvCB=1&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=angs-c&gsfn=Joseph&gsfn_x=1&gsln=Biden&gsln_x=1&81004010__date_x=1&msbpn_x=1&msbpn__ftp_x=1&81004030__date_x=1&msdpn_x=1&msdpn__ftp_x=1&msrpn_x=1&msrpn__ftp_x=1&_8000C000_x=1&_80008000_x=1&_80018000_x=1&_80014000_x=1&_80010000_x=1&gskw_x=1&_83004002_x=1 ''Index to Marriages and Deaths in the Baltimore Sun 1851-1860'']

This page is locked, if you'd like to add or correct anything, please email me. I am available for hire to assist you to trace your family or create a biography of you or your relative. I charge $25 per hour.

Special thanks to site reader Chris Smithson ctsmithson@verizon.net, professional genealogist (specializing in Maryland), for some of the below (as noted).

The family moved to Claymont, Delaware when Joe was ten years old and he continued growing-up in New Castle County, Delaware where his father was a car salesman. Joe Jr graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse University College of Law. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 when he was 29.

While he was in law school he married Neilia Hunter, they had three children: Joseph R "Beau" Biden III, Robert Hunter Biden, and Amy Biden. His wife and infant daughter died in a car accident sometime between 1972 and 1974. In 1977 he married Jill Tracy Jacobs. They had one daughter Ashley. Currently Joseph Biden is a U.S. Senator from Delaware, he has been in government for 33 years.

Joseph Biden was Chairman of the Senate Judiary Committee from 1987 until 1995. In 1997 he became the ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and chaired the committee from 2001 until 2003. He again became Chair in 2007, which he still is today.

Joe's parents moved into his home with him in Delaware. His father died there 2 Sep 2002, Joe Jr's mother Jean was then still living.

Joseph "Joe" Biden was born 13 Nov 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland, the eldest child of Joseph H Biden and his wife Mary Elizabeth Robinette. "While he was still a boy, his family moved to Wilmington, Delaware where he attended St. Paul’s School and Wilmington High School before graduating from St. Thomas Academy in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the family was then residing." (see obit)

She married Joseph Robinette Biden in 1941, while he was employed as a sales representative for Amoco Oil Company. They had a daughter and three sons including Joe Biden Jr (in 1942), while they were living in Scanton, Pennsylvania.

She is living. She was quoted here on 28 Aug 2008, as "Catherine Biden, 91", giving evidence that she was born in 1917.

Joseph H Biden was born 14 June 1893 in Maryland, probably in Baltimore to George T "Harry" Biden and his wife Mary Emeline "Emily" Liddell. Joseph H Biden married 27 Nov 1914 in Baltimore City, Maryland to Mary Elizabeth Robinette and they had their eldest son Joseph Robinette Biden in Baltimore, Maryland in Nov, 1915. The family lived in 1920 in Baltimore. I cannot seem to locate a WW1 Draft Registration Card for Joe although one should exist. By 1930 they had moved to Wilmington, Delaware, but later moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania, sometime between 1933 (when their son Joe graduated from Wilmington High School) and 1936 (when he graduated from St. Thomas Academy in Scranton, PA). They had three children: Joseph, Mary Alice and Frank.

Joseph H Biden Sr must have moved back to Baltimore, because he died there 26 Sep 1941 and is interred at Loudon Park Cemetery. At the time of his death, he had recently been the manager of the local American Oil Company plant.

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland), 29 Sep 1941, "Joseph H Biden Dies in Baltimore" : "Local Manager of the American Oil Company Plant Had Been Ill But Short Time" : "Funeral services are to be held this morning in Baltimore for Joseph H Biden, manager of the local American Oil Company plant for the past year, who died suddenly last Friday evening in a Baltimore hospital of a hemorrhage. He had been ill several weeks and was undergoing hospital observation when fatally stricken." "The deceased resided on Wilson avenue, this city, with his family. He is survived by his wife Mrs. Mary E Robinette Biden, and a daughter Miss Mary Alice at home, and two sons, Joseph J Jr Harrisburg, Pa. and Frank, stationed at Aberdeen, Md, with the Ordnance [...]ps." "The funeral will be held from the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs William Sheene, 811 Woodington road, Baltimore at 8:30 o'clock this morning with requiem mass at St William's church at 9 o'clock. Interment will be in Loudon Park cemetery."

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland), 30 May 1942, "Former Local Youth Killed in Australia", "The Baltimore office of the American Oil Company has been advised by the War Department that Frank Biden, formerly of Baltimore and son of the late Joseph P Biden and Mrs Biden, now of Harrisburg, Pa., has been killed in Australia....Mrs Biden and a brother in Harrisburg have been notified."

Mary Elizabeth Robinette was born Nov 1894 in Maryland, the daughter of George H Robinette and his wife Mary A Hanafre. Mary married on 27 Nov 1914 in Baltimore City, Maryland to Joseph H Biden. The family lived in 1920 in Baltimore. By 1930 they had moved to Wilmington, Delaware, but later moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The proof that Mary, who married Joseph Biden, is the same person as "Marnie" Robinette in the 1910 census is the recently discovered obituary of Joseph Biden which states that his sister-in-law was "Mrs William Sheene". As can be seen in the 1910 census, "Mrs William Sheene" is Alice (Robinette) Sheene b abt 1888. The WW1 Draft Registration Card for "William Everett Sheene" of Baltimore states that his wife is Alice.

Mary died in 1943, possibly either in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania or in Baltimore, Maryland. She in buried with her husband at Loudon Park Cemetery.

Ambrose Joseph Finnegan was born on 11 Jul 1884 in Olyphant, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. His Irish-emigrant parents had possibly both died by the time of the 1900 census, and possibly in Scranton, when he is enumerated in Scranton, Pennsylvania as "nephew" in the household of Peter F Roche and his wife Bridget. It's possible, but not yet evidenced, that he was the son of James Finnegan and Catherine Finnegan. This site which has a will index for Lackawanna County, has the death of Catherine Finnegan on 4 Apr 1886, and James on 1 Mar 1895. That would explain why Ambrose in 1900 is living with his uncle. But please note, that no matter who has told you that James and Catherine are his parents must show evidence.

Ambrose Joseph Finnegan married in 1908/9 probably in Pennsylvania to Geraldine C Blewitt. Ambrose either then or slightly before had trained to be a civil engineer, an occupation he held in 1910 as did his father-in-law Edward F Blewitt. You will find mentions here and there on the internet that Ambrose worked for Scranton Gas & Water Company. Most articles and sites say nothing more. So much for those sites. Now for the rest of the story.

Being a civil engineer was not to keep Ambrose, by 1918 he had become an advertising solicitor for the Scrantonian Publishing Company. He would apparently work for the Scrantonian the rest of his life, working his way up by 1930 to be Advertising Manager. You would think that these great newspaper reporters of today would have noticed that. But no.

Ambrose Joseph Finnegan was yet living in 1942 when he filed his WWII Draft Registration Card from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and again he lists his employer as "M L Goodman" of the "Scrantonian-Tribune". In Joseph Biden's autobiographical book (see sources below), his grandfather Finnegan was living when Joe was "12 or 13" (so this would be 1954/6).

The city of his youth is part of the first paragraph in his book, "Promises to Keep," released last summer by Random House. "The first principle of politics, the foundational principle, I learned in the 1950s in my grandpop’s kitchen when I was about 12 or 13 years old," Mr. Biden wrote the book’s opening line. "My parents had recently moved us to Delaware, but most Friday nights mom and dad would load me, my sister Val, my brother Jimmy and the baby, Frankie, into our car and drive up to Scranton, Pa., to spend the weekend at grandpop Finnegan’s house."

George T "Harry" Biden was born Oct 1867 in Maryland, possibly in Baltimore, the son of Joseph Biden and his wife Lydia Ann Randle. George Biden married Mary Emeline "Emily" Liddell on 8 Mar 1889 in Baltimore, and they were living in 1893/4 in Maryland when his son Joseph H Biden was born there. On the 1920 and 1930 census entries for this son, it states that both his parents were also born in Maryland.

Mary Emeline "Emily" Liddell was born Sep 1870 in Maryland, possibly in Baltimore, the daughter of Robert Theodore Liddell and his wife Susan E Bomberger. About 1888/9 she married George T Biden, probably in Maryland, possibly in Baltimore. Her father and her husband may have been in business together about 1890 when they both appear in the City Directory at the same address.

George H Robinette was born 3 Oct 1844 in Maryland, per the 1900 and 1910 census, but his death certificate states "WV" (which should historically be Virginia). Chris Smithson, professional genealogist (specializing in Maryland) has told me that he believes George's father is Moses Robinette, because in the 1850 census of Preston County, Virginia, Moses appears with a son George H age 4, and then again they appear in Taylor County in 1860 with George now age 15. I'm waiting for some more firm documentation, for which Chris is searching now.

George had a sister Alice Rexroad, her husband may have been Isaiah Rexroad. An Alice A Rexroad filed in Illinois for a Civil War Pension, on the service of Isaiah Rexroad for the W.Va.Inf. (See also here.) Lander Rexroad shows in the 1910, 20 and 30 census in Chicago.

George Robinette married in 1870 in Taylor, West Virginia to Annie M Baenneman. She died 21 Sep 1882 in Taylor, West Virginia (see here). George Robinette then married to Mary A Hanafre, one of their children was Mary Elizabeth Robinette born Nov 1894.

George Robinette died 2 Apr 1914 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. His wife Mary survived him and appears in the 1920 census of Baltimore as "widow". She died in 1930 and is buried with him at Loudon Park.

Site reader Chris Smithson ctsmithson@verizon.net, professional genealogist (specializing in Maryland), reports to me on 28 Aug 2008, that the death certificate states George H. Robinette [b. 1845 in WV - d. 2 Apr 1914 at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore City, MD] Buried at Loudon Park Cemetery - Parents Jno Robinette born in VA and UNKNOWN born in VA.

Site reader Loretta-Marie Dimond genehisthome1@comcast.net, professional historian and genealogist specializing in Pacific Northwest and Civil War history, reports to me on 12 Sep 2008, that : George H Robinett has a Civil War pension file. "He served as a private in Company B, 17th West Virginia Infantry, and was in receipt of invalid pension from the early 1890s. File number 694,476. His widow Mary, who survived him (but was not issued an XC number, supporting the theory she was deceased before 1934), was in receipt of a widow's pension from 1914, consistent with the date of death from George's, Johns Hopkins Baltimore death certificate. Should this prove to be the identical George H Robinett who was the father of Mary Elizabeth Robinette Biden (and I believe it will, or I would not have written to you!), the dependency documents in the file will give you proof in the veteran's own handwriting, as well as proof of his two marriages, and probably proof of his parentage."

Mary A Hanafee was born 27 Aug 1862 in Ohio, possibly in Putnam County to John Hanafee and his wife Mary Somebody. Either about 1876/7 or about 1881/2 she married George H Robinette and by 1900 they were living in Baltimore, Maryland. George died in 1914, and she died 5 Jan 1930. They are buried together at Loudon Park Cemetery.

Mr Finnegan was born in either Ireland, Pennsylvania or New York per his son Ambrose's fluctuating census responses. His son, Ambrose Joseph Finnegan, on his WWII Draft Registration Card, states that he was born "Jul 11, 1884 in Olyphant, Lacka Co, PA" so the family must have been living there at that time. By the time of the 1900 census, for whatever reason, he is living as nephew with Peter F Roche 44 NY/Ireland/Ireland and his wife Bridget 42 PA/Ireland/Ireland. It's possible both his parents are dead by this time.

A nephew can exist in this case in four ways. Ambrose's father is the brother of Peter Roche; Ambrose's mother is a sister of Peter Roche; Ambrose's father is a brother of Bridget or Ambrose's mother is a sister of Bridget. None of these cases are stand-outs and none can be discarded until we have a primary source stating something more about the Roche family, or identifying Mr Finnegan or his wife more clearly.

Edward Francis Blewitt was born 2 Jan 1859 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Patrick Blewitt and Catharine Scanlon.

Edward Francis Blewitt married firstly in Scranton in 1879 to Mary Ellen Stanton (d. 1887) and secondly in 1891 to Mary Ann Blackwell. He was a civil engineer; Scranton city engineer, 1883-93; member of Pennsylvania state senate, 1907-10.

Also descending from this man is "retired film editor David E Blewitt".

Edward Francis Blewitt, Lackawanna County, was born in New Orleans, La., January 2, 1859; educated at Lafayette College, Easton, PA, and was graduated therefrom as a civil engineer in the class of 1879, of which class he is now president; was city engineer of Scranton, PA, 1883 to 1893, and served as school controller for a term ending 1884; is a contracting and consulting engineer and was chief engineer from 1897 to 1902 of the Guadalajara City, State of Jalisco, Mexico, sewer and water works, costing $3,000,000, the most complete in that country; elected to the Senate in November, 1906. Source: Smull's Legislative Hand Book and Manual of the State of Pennsylvania, 1910; Biographical Sketches.

Joseph Biden was born in 1828 in Baltimore County, Maryland. He married on 23 Dec 1852 to Lydia Ann Randle, five years his junior.

The obituary of Joseph Biden appeared in the Baltimore Sun on 3 Jun 1895 stating that he died on 2 Jun 1895 at age 67. He was buried at Mt. Olivet Methodist Cemetery, but there is no stone according to Chris Smithson.

Chris Smithson informs me that, "I did find an obituary for Joseph Biden who married Lydia Randle. His obituary appeared in the Baltimore Sun on June 3, 1895 stated that he died on June 2, 1895 at age 67."

Lydia Ann Randle was born 1833/4 in Maryland. Her parents might have been Thomas H Randle and his wife Mary Ann Shoemaker who married 9 Jun 1830 in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Chris Smithson informs me that "Thomas H. Randle died Jun 3, 1889 in Arbutus Station, Sulphur Spring Road, Baltimore County [Obituary from Baltimore Sun dated Jun 5, 1889]; Mary A. Randle died Aug 15, 1902 in Baltimore County, MD - [MD Death Certificate Index at www.mdvitalrec.net]", he further informs me that Mary was age 89 at her death per her death certificate, and that her father was George Shoemaker, mother Rachel Herbert.

Site reader Chris Smithson ctsmithson@verizon.net, professional genealogist (specializing in Maryland), reports on 28 Aug 2008, that the death certificate shows: Robert Theodore Liddell was born 4 January 1844 in Baltimore, MD to John Little and Emiline (Emily) Wooden. Robert died 4 Oct 1914 in Baltimore. Buried in Baltimore Cemetery.

Susan E Bomberger Liddell was born 9 May 1844 in Baltimore, Maryland, and died 25 July 1924 in a Methodist Church Home for the aged in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were John Harnage Bomberger and Susan Launderslager. Susan was buried in Baltimore Cemetery.

Site reader Chris Smithson ctsmithson@verizon.net, professional genealogist (specializing in Maryland), reports on 28 Aug 2008, that the death certificate shows: Susan E Bomberger Liddell was born 9 May 1844 in Baltimore, and died 25 July 1924 in a Methodist Church Home for the aged in Baltimore, MD. Her parents were John Harnage Bomberger and Susan Launderslager. Buried in Baltimore Cemetery